Monique Baker McCormick: "It's so sad we don't expect more." (Campaign photo)
Monique McCormick has been running for Wayne County Commission for a decade. This may be her year, she thinks, because the longtime incumbent she sought to unseat, Burton Leland, is decidedly out of the race. (He's dead.)
But she takes nothing for granted. No one in Detroit politics would be so naive.
Bridge magazine's Joel Kurth turns in an entertaining read about one woman's drive to win a seat that doesn't pay all that much (low $60Ks) and is often held by former state legislators term-limited out of Lansing. Her quest has contributed to her bankruptcy and unearthed ugly accusations about her personal life.
“People don’t have many expectations of their elected officials,” said McCormick, 49, a real-estate and investment broker. “It’s so sad we don’t expect more. If we don’t expect more, we won’t ever get more.”
But now, McCormick is facing accusations that she uses the same scorched-earth politics that she claims to loath – and some say her quest may show why good people avoid government service.
“Politics is always dirty, and sometimes people want to win at any cost anywhere,” said Ernest Johnson, a political strategist in the city who most recently served as Mayor Mike Duggan’s deputy campaign manager.
“But here in Detroit, we have poli-tricks.”
Boy, do we: McCormick had to contend with a mailer from her fiance's ex-wife, accusing her of being a homewrecker. Among other things. Is a seat on the Wayne County Commission worth such drama? To McCormick, apparently yes.
